TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State junior Jake Odum has been tabbed for the second consecutive year as a Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference selection while the Sycamores are picked to finish seventh in the league. The MVC Preseason Team as well as predicted order of finish was determined by a poll of the league head coaches, sports information directors, beat writers and radio play-by-play announcers.

"I don't look too much into the polls, it is just opinions, but it includes those of the league head coaches," ISU basketball head coach Greg Lansing said. "Voters go by which teams have experienced players coming back and the league stats say that 8-of-10 teams in the MVC have the majority of their starters coming back. We lost four senior starters from last season, so I was expecting to be picked about where we were. Our goal is to win the MVC Championship and go to the NCAA Tournament so we are going to look to see if we can change those opinions as the season moves forward." 

Odum is coming off a sophomore campaign in which he was named an All-Missouri Valley Conference second team selection and also garnered Second Team All-District plaudits from the National Basketball Coaches Association. He was second on the team with a 10.8 points per game average and his 5.9 rebounds per contest paced the squad and ranked 10th-best in the MVC. He was third in the league in steals with 1.8 per game and his 1.6 assist to turnover ratio was ninth.

He became the first Sycamore since Larry Bird to record a triple-double when he tallied 10 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists against Fairfield in the Old Spice Classic. Odum scored a career-high 34 points against Illinois State, becoming the first Sycamore to post at least 30 points in a game since 2006.

"Jake has been an all-conference player in each of his first two seasons, including last year when he was not even close to being healthy, he still was a second team selection," Lansing commented. "He is back and more motivated than ever. First and foremost, Jake has to be our leader and he has to do it all of the time. We are looking for him to bring positive energy to this team, direct traffic on the court and pick his teammates up throughout the year."

Odum is joined on the MVC Preseason Team by Doug McDermott of Creighton (Preseason Player Of The Year), Colt Ryan of Evansville, Jackie Carmichael of Illinois State and Ben Simons of Drake. Gregory Echenique of Creighton, Anthony James of UNI, Curt Hall of Wichita State and Seth Tuttle of UNI were honorable mention selections.

The Sycamores received 165 points in the league-wide preseason poll and settled in the seventh place position. Creighton garnered 38-of-40 first place votes to finish first in the balloting (398 points). Illinois State was second with 327 points and two first place votes.

UNI is third with 316, Wichita State is fourth with 298 and Evansville is fifth with 240. Drake edged out the Sycamores for sixth with 184 points while Indiana State is seventh with 165 points. Missouri State tallied 122 points for eighth, Bradley was ninth with 84 and Southern Illinois was 10th with 66 points.

"The MVC is scary good," Lansing said. "Coaches from different leagues that I talk with all say how they think the league is so tough. I don't know that the MVC has ever been as good from top to bottom as it is going to be this year. With all the returners that this league has, it is going to be a war each and every night. I sure hope our fans pick up on how tough this conference is because we are going to need the Hulman Center to be packed and loud each and every night."

Indiana State was 18-15 last season and 8-10 in the MVFC for an eighth place finish, which proved to be just one game out of third. Wichita State and Creighton each advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Sycamores open the 2012-13 campaign with an exhibition contest on Thursday, November 1 at home against Lewis. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. (ET). The regular season begins on Friday, November 9 at UCLA. Tip-off against the Bruins is scheduled for 11:00 p.m. (ET) and can be seen live on Fox Sports Net.